Cycling in Waterloo Region

[danbrotherston]

From the Record: Father of teen killed cycling wants training for young riders

This article follows another a few days ago that talked about similar calls for more training on bicycle safety in schools. I have to wonder, if the daughter of an avid cyclist is choosing to break the rules by riding on the sidewalk, what hope is there for kids whose parents don't cycle, but receive some instruction in school? Knowing the rules is important, but I would guess that the likely reason this young woman was riding on the sidewalk was not for ignorance of the rules, but rather the hostile nature of a lot of our roads.
Both articles this week also mentioned a 39-year-old rider struck by a transport truck when she was riding on Weber on a sidewalk. The implication is that training would have prevented that, too. I doubt it. I feel very strongly that people on bikes should have enough respect not to ride on the sidewalk, but I try to avoid Weber and find it to be a nightmare. If you need to use that street, I can understand why you might be tempted to ride on the sidewalk, and it seems that many people do. I would expect that the rider who was hit on Weber probably knows that bicycles belong on the street, but simply can't stomach riding in the kind of mixed traffic Weber has.
The answer is infrastructure, not more rules. If people are riding on the sidewalk on Weber, put a bike lane there. That's relatively straightforward compared to "more training in schools" and waiting a generation for people to hopefully ride safer. And a lot more likely to actually reduce injuries than mandating helmets.

If I understood the reports correctly, the individual was riding the wrong way down the street, not on the sidewalk.  The accident, however, occurred when she entered the cross street without stopping (again, if I read the Record report correctly).  There was a third auto/cyclist accident in K-W last week - the Record report did not imply the cyclist was at fault in that accident, as it did in the other two, but I've seen no report of any charges being laid.....

I'm not sure the police would lay charges in a case like this, they're not required to, and charging a dead person seems...unnecessarily cruel.  It doesn't necessarily change the insurance company's view of fault either.

As for Midtowner's position, he's absolutely right, the most effective thing we can do to increase compliance with the laws i build safe bike infrastructure.  It's well studied.  And of course, this is entirely at odds with D'Amato's inflammatory column this morning, who suggests we stop building infrastructure and start licensing cyclists.  Insane.

That being said, I do feel that education is important, it is useful for cyclists (and future drivers) to know, for example, why cyclists would ride out from parked cars.  It doesn't even occur to some drivers that doors may open, and they take it as a personal insult.  I've even seen WRPS bike officers fail to ride away from parked cars.  So education does have a place I believe, but licensing does not.